OREANDA-NEWS Payments from companies from Hungary, Slovakia and Austria to Gazprom for the supplied gas may be arrested. The Polish energy giant Orlen warned the partners of the Russian supplier about this back in May, Reuters reports.

The company is demanding compensation for losses it suffered after cutting off gas supplies from Russia in 2022. Then Orlen refused to switch to payment in rubles, because another currency was specified in the contract, and Gazprom stopped pumping.

According to the agency's sources, the Polish warning forced the Hungarian authorities to issue a decree in order to prevent the withdrawal of payments from the state-owned MVM CEEnergy company. Budapest explained this decision as a threat to the country's energy supply.

Austrian OMV, which is also under threat of blocking payments, declined to comment on the arbitration proceedings, but referred to a month-old message. It said that due to the decision of a foreign court in favor of a "large European energy company," Gazprom's supplies may stop.

The Austrian Ministry of Energy, in turn, pointed out that while there is dependence on Russian gas, there is also a threat of stopping supplies for various reasons.

Europol Gaz (owned by Orlen) last year filed a lawsuit against Gazprom in the amount of $ 1.45 billion. The parent company demands more than $350 million from MVM CEEnergy as collateral for the debt to the Russian company.

Earlier, the German Uniper won a multibillion-dollar arbitration in Stockholm against Gazprom, which allowed it to terminate invalid gas supply contracts and may create a precedent for such cases.

This week, the European Union approved the 14th package of sanctions against Russia. It contains a new legal tool that allows you to seize assets from a number of Russian companies. Gazprom is included in this list.